# I waited so long, so this must be good ... Term for this **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 6, 2004, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-waited-so-long-so-this-must-be-good-term-for-this/227895 "2004-02-06T20:28:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-waited-so-long-so-this-must-be-good-term-for-this/227895/1 "2004-02-06T20:28:22Z")
Is there a psychological term to describe how people rationalize waiting a long time for something, for example, standing in line to get on a roller coaster or for a movie, by thinking that the end result (the ride or the movie) will be so good that the wait was worth it. For years, one of my brothers told me that this was an example of cognitive dissonance. But from my poking around psych dictionaries tells me that means you are reconciling two contradictory ideas. E.g. I think killing animals is wrong, but I like to eat meat. Or does this phenomenon have no better name than rationalization? ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-waited-so-long-so-this-must-be-good-term-for-this/227895/2 "2004-02-06T21:42:23Z")
Delay of gratification? It’s a good test of a kid’s emotional development to see if they can actually wait to get something good, vs. getting something not-so-good right now. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-waited-so-long-so-this-must-be-good-term-for-this/227895/3 "2004-02-06T22:14:17Z")
It is cognitive dissonance. Essentially, the waiter convinces themselves that the show/ride/event will be spectacular because waiting for 2 hours to see something crappy would be stupid. The waiter doesn’t want to feel or believe they are stupid, so the even must be amazing. Classic CD. (Alice - psych major). ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2004, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-waited-so-long-so-this-must-be-good-term-for-this/227895/4 "2004-02-07T02:31:49Z")
Maybe I’m missing something here, but what if the outcome IS “amazing”? For example, I love roller coasters and would have no problem standing in line for 2 hours to get on one. I certainly think its worth it. (okay, so I wouldn’t actually wait 2 hours, but you get the idea.) ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2004, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-waited-so-long-so-this-must-be-good-term-for-this/227895/5 "2004-02-07T04:27:34Z")
OK, so what would be the opposite of this be? My example is a coworkers who waited for months for a DVD to arrive at work. He was very eager for it to come in. But it took so long, he began to think that he would be disappointed with it once he finally got the chance to see it. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2004, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-waited-so-long-so-this-must-be-good-term-for-this/227895/6 "2004-02-07T05:57:44Z")
Self-awareness of cognitive dissonance? ---
**Author:** ![boofy\_bloke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@boofy\_bloke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boofy_bloke)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-waited-so-long-so-this-must-be-good-term-for-this/227895/7 "2004-02-08T07:27:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Essentially, the waiter convinces themselves that the show/ride/event will be spectacular because waiting for 2 hours to see something crappy would be stupid. The waiter doesn’t want to feel or believe they are stupid, so the even must be amazing. Did you have a 2-hour wait in a restaurant for your meal to be delivered? The ability to give yourself a delayed reward is what separates us from the animals (i.e. children) as it indicates an ability to think forward in time (the difference between “It’s getting cold so I should start flying to the tropics” and “Let’s go to Fiji for the holidays this year.”